Mutterings of a Mad Woman

When I first heard there was a movie being made of the children's book Where the Wild Things Are originally written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, I had mixed feelings. It would be exciting to see these creatures larger than life on the big screen, but at what price?

With today's film makers relying more and more on CGI (especially on big budget films and this one has cost $80 Million U.S.), one of my main concerns was how the characters would look. When it comes to monsters and creatures, I'll take a guy in a costume over full CGI anytime, so I was relieved to find out that most of the beasts were being created with a mix of puppetry and computer enhancement.

Reports and reviews on the Internet have been vague and contradictory at best. Some say the movie was too frightening for little ones to watch at a test screening, and that the entire film was to be re-shot from scratch (some reported the new version would use no puppets and all creatures would be generated using CGI). Many have speculated the film would never actually make it to theatres.

If only I could get promotions as quickly and easily as it happened yesterday on Facebook. I received a lovely message from a fellow haunter in the city, inviting me to join his new group Toronto Ontario Halloween Haunters.

Always looking to connect with local ghouls, I happily accepted the invite and joined the group. The next message I received indicated that I was now an officer (with a very flattering title).

An officer? Do I get a badge? Or leftover Halloween candy? What do I have to do?

I'm earning my keep by promoting it. So I'm looking for Haunters/Halloweeners in Toronto and surrounding areas. If you're using Facebook, come on by and add your name to the list of members.

Camille Rose Garcia recently had a show at the Jonathan Levine Gallery. As part of the exhibit, she promoted her fabulous new wallpaper. You can buy a roll that covers 30 square feet for the low, low cost of $200.

You'd think with those prices (not to mention small, standard paper-sized works going for $4000 like Happy Owl and Nervous House pictured below), she might be able to afford to hire someone to update her website for her. The only reason I was aware she had a new showing was because Bones over at Haunt Style blogged about it.

Don't get me wrong. I think it's great when an artist is successful and people are willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money for their work. It just means that I'll never be able to afford anything more than a book of hers, and that makes my artist crush on her fade a bit.

Remember when I mentioned she's launching the toy company PITCO? My plans of buying one of her 'toys' has been obliterated. One of those Seymore Squidley Dolls (pictured below) costs $600.

Here's an announcement via www.muppetnewsflash.com. Don't ask me how I end up at these websites. I just fall down the rabbit hole and report what I find on the other side.

There's word that we can finally expect to see a Muppets Halloween special this fall.

Even though the Christmas special I watched this year - where Kermit and the gang hand deliver mail to Santa - was pretty weak by traditional Muppet standards, I'm hopeful their spin on Halloween will be entertaining. It's well overdue, at any rate.

There will also be an official line of Muppet Halloween costumes coming out as well.

There aren't many Canadian events for Haunters, Horror fans or Halloween freaks. Even in my busy city of Toronto, home to countless conventions and festivals, the pickings are slim so I'm always keen to stay on top of what's happening.

They haven't posted their list of exhibitors or guests yet (more announcements coming in May) but I do know one thing that might be different about this year: I'm hoping to attend as both a fan and an exhibitor.

The people at ThatsMyFace.com will take an image of you and use it to create a number of products: an action figure, a mask, a full head, a head cup to hold pencils...or my favourite, a Braincase.

The Braincase is a jar made in the shape and likeness of your head. It has a false brain panel beneath the scalp lid. When both are removed, you can keep your valuables in there. Like cookies. Or change.

Cost varies from $99 to $2999 depending on size.

Not crazy about your own face? That's ok. They can make you look prettier. Or older. Or younger.

Happy Friday the 13th, boils and ghouls. What better way to celebrate the day than with a marathon of pumpkin paper mache? That's what I say, anyway.

I realized that I've never created items traditionally associated with Halloween. I think an army of jack o' lanterns should solve that.

As a base, I'm starting with a technique touted by fellow paper mache com padre (lots of rhyming in today's blog. Unintentional, but amusing) Stolloween.

It's simple. You take plastic bags, stuff them with crumpled newspaper, close them up and pull string tightly around the outside of the bags to create grooves (defining the pumpkin's shape).

Scott suggests using tape over the string for further definition, but I've found this is only necessary when the string wasn't as tight as I wanted it to be. In that case, I would place the end of a long but thin strip of tape at the bottom of the pumpkin along the string, pull the tape tight against a length of the pumpkin/string, then press the tape in place before continuing.

Quick, simple blog today. This little ghoul's a bit blue this morning, so I thought I'd share a website that made me smile.

Haunted Hot Sauce, a collection of zombie-themed homemade sauces, was created by Victor "The Undertaker" Ives. He packs each order - whether it's Ghoul Drool, Flesh Feast, Undertaker's Undead or Mortician's Mold - in it's own coffin.

Each recipe is carefully prepared by hand, each bottle is filled and labelled by hand and I personally build each and every coffin by hand.HauntedHotSauce.com is a manifestation of my love for quality spicy food products and my lifetime infatuation with the Halloween/Horror genre.

It's a nice looking website and a handsome product. How does it taste? I couldn't tell you (I'm most curious about the Ghoul Drool). But if Victor puts as much care into his sauces as he does in presentation and packaging, I'd guess that's one tasty sauce.

Even if you're not interested in making a purchase, I encourage you to play in his Drag & Drop Checkout. Don't forget to click on the radio.